"We wanted to both explore and celebrate the incredible diversity of music around the globe," says Music Director Michael Christie. "The Target World Music Festival gives us the opportunity to bring traditional music from South America, Pacific islands, Europe and Asia right here to the Valley."
The broad series of concerts includes Classics, Pops and Family concerts performed at Symphony Hall as well as Special Event performances at the Orpheum Theatre and the Mesa Arts Center. "At Target, we are committed to making the arts affordable and accessible to youth and families across the country," said Laysha Ward, vice president, community relations, Target. "By partnering with The Phoenix Symphony on the first-ever Target World Music Festival, we hope to foster an appreciation and understanding of various cultures, traditions and points of view through the power of music."
Wu Man and the Romashka Gypsy Folk Troupe
World Music phenomenon Wu Man joins The Phoenix Symphony as they open the 2008/09 Classics Concerts and the inaugural Target World Music Festival with "Bartok Concerto for Orchestra: The Heritage of World Folk" September 11 and 13. Wu Man is the world's foremost Chinese pipa virtuoso (an instrument similar to a lute with a rich, centuries-long tradition in China), and was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "the artist most responsible for bringing the pipa to the Western world." She has performed as soloist with many of the world's major orchestras including the Symphony Orchestras of Boston and Chicago and the New York Philharmonic, and was the first artist from China to perform at the White House. She performs American composer Lou Harrison's Pipa Concerto, a work she premiered and recorded.
Along with Wu Man and the Chinese pipa, these concerts will feature traditional sounds from East and West, with Bartok's revered Concerto for Orchestra - in which the composer disguised traditional Hungarian folk songs - to works by Japan's seminal composer Toru Takemitsu. The Romashka Gypsy Folk Troupe also joins the Symphony with traditional Gypsy song and dance, demonstrating how classical composers like Bartok were informed and influenced by folk music. Formed in 2003, the troupe moved from cafes and all-night jams, apartment parties and subway stops to museums and music festivals, quickly becoming a driving force in the burgeoning New York gypsy and Balkan music scene. Both Thursday evening's 7:30 p.m. concert and Saturday evening's 8:00 p.m. concert are at Symphony Hall in downtown Phoenix.
Kronos Quartet
The groundbreaking Kronos Quartet performs around the Valley September 12 and 14. Over their decades-long performing and recording career, the Kronos Quartet has commissioned new works and fearlessly incorporated elements and arrangements of rock music in their concerts. In the process, they have become one of the most celebrated and influential groups of our time by performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than forty recordings, collaborating with many of the world's most eclectic composers and performers from Terry Riley and Philip Glass to David Bowie and expanding the literature and context of the string quartet. The Kronos Quartet has been featured prominently in such films as Requiem for a Dream, 21 Grams and Dracula, and has garnered numerous awards, including a 2004 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance and 2003 "Musicians of the Year" award from Musical America.
September 12 - Friday evening's 8 p.m. performance at the Orpheum Theatre showcases the Kronos Quartet's wide repertoire as they perform selections by composers from around the globe.
September 14 - Special guest Wu Man performs Chen Yi's multimedia work Ancient Dances and joins the Kronos Quartet in a work Terry Riley wrote specifically for these five extraordinary performers: The Cusp of Magic. This Sunday matinee begins at 2 p.m. at the Mesa Arts Center.
Tania Libertad
Peruvian singer Tania Libertad performs her distinctive Afro-Peruvian style of soulful song September 17 at the Orpheum Theatre. Tania Libertad, born in the small town of Zana in northern Peru but a long-time resident of Mexico, has amassed an amazingly diverse discography of three dozen albums that includes forays into the stylistic realms of salsa, nueva cancion (protest songs), Brazilian music, her trademark boleros and other genres. Despite this versatility, it is consistently the spirit of Peru's small but culturally vibrant Afro-Peruvian community that shapes her artistic life. The Wednesday night concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Please note: The Phoenix Symphony does not perform on this concert.
Natalie MacMaster
The exciting fiddler Natalie MacMaster joins The Phoenix Symphony to kick off the Pops series with performances September 19 and 20. A consummate entertainer, Natalie MacMaster delights audiences around the world with high-energy Celtic fiddling and step-dancing. She has appeared with dozens of distinguished symphony orchestras, has been on national television programs such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and has shared the stage with a diverse range of musical stars including Santana, Paul Simon, Faith Hill and Luciano Pavarotti. While her albums consistently receive accolades, such as the 2005 East Coast Music Awards "Best Female Artist of the Year" and "Best Roots/Traditional Solo Recording," it is the popularity of her music and the intensity of her performance that makes her an audience favorite again and again, and a Pops experience not to be missed. Both Friday and Saturday night performances begin at 8:00 p.m. and are located in Symphony Hall. Natalie MacMaster also opens the Symphony's Family series with "Celtic Fiddlin'" on September 20. As with all The Phoenix Symphony's Family concerts, pre-concert activities begin at 1:30 p.m. and the performance in Symphony Hall begins at 2:30 p.m.
HAPA
The inaugural Target World Music Festival comes to a festive finale with the island sounds of HAPA performing at the Orpheum Theatre September 21. Like the Hawaiian Islands themselves, HAPA's Pan-Polynesian music is an amalgam of influences ranging from ancient genealogical chants to the strummed ballads of Portuguese fishermen, Spanish cowboys and the inspired melodies and harmonies of the traditional church choirs of the early missionaries. HAPA's self-titled debut album swept the 1994 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards (Hawaii's equivalent of the Grammy Awards), becoming the best-selling CD by any group in the history of Hawaiian music. Recording success has consistently translated into performance success with sold-out shows across the globe from Tokyo to New York. Topped off with a bit of American acoustic folk/rock, HAPA's sound exemplifies the all-encompassing scope of the Target World Music Festival. The Sunday matinee performance begins at 2:00 p.m. Please note: The Phoenix Symphony does not perform on this concert.
Festival Events
The Phoenix Symphony Education and Community Engagement Office will present two fun-filled afternoons of activities in conjunction with the Target World Music Festival. Wu Man's performance with the Kronos Quartet on September 14 coincides with the Chinese Moon Festival, the second most important event in Chinese culture. Before the concert, audience members can learn about the Moon Festival and the fascinating Chinese pipa. This event will take place at the Mesa Arts Center from 12:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Similar pre-concert festivities will precede HAPA's Orpheum Theatre concert on September 21. Downtown Phoenix will come alive from 12:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. in an event for the whole family to explore Pan-Polynesian song, dance and culture. -- www.phoenixsymphony.org
